


Christmas with Bonnie

by AeonAmber



Category: Toy Story Series (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 20:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AeonAmber/pseuds/AeonAmber





	Christmas with Bonnie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celeria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeria/gifts).



_“Come on guys!” Woody called. “We’re almost there!”_

 _The echoing of hooves sounded through the narrow tunnel as Bullseye continued forwards. Jessie, on Buttercup, trailed slightly behind, and Buzz brought up the rear, flying easily through the cool air with his wings outstretched and both arms stretching before him._

 _“Ride like the wind, Bullseye!” the sheriff spurred on his horse, and with a final burst of speed, the three came to the end of the tunnel and into a wide, open cavern._

 _In the centre stood a pillar, the steep monument marred with uneven footholds and scratches gouged into its surface, parts worn away by many years and countless numbers of adventurers and their slipping feet as they scaled the great height, all after the one most sought after prize which resided in the heart of the stone temple._

 _Woody, Jessie and Buzz craned their necks upward. High above them, atop the pillar, something glinted gold, illuminating the shadowy cavern._

 _“We did it,” Jessie breathed. “We beat Porkchop to the treasure!” She punched the air in triumph and Woody grinned, but their faces fell as they heard a familiar cough behind them._

 _“Not so fast,” Porkchop sneered. The heroes turned; he sat in his hover car, face smug and one trotter stroking the head of his faithful hound, Slink. “You’re going nowhere… unless you can get past my new pet.”_

 _Woody’s eyes widened in horror as the huge, serpentine creature rose up from the uneven ground, emitting a roar as it did so. Porkchop cackled in triumph, steering his hover car well clear of the oncoming chaos as the disturbance rumbled throughout the open cavern. The ground trembled below them, and a fissure split open across one wall, where huge slabs of red brick began to tip and fall slowly downwards. Woody and the others shielded their faces as they were cast in the huge shadow of the falling rocks._

 _Buzz took a running dive and pushed his allies out of the way, and Woody, Jessie and their steeds looked on as Buzz caught he debris, knees buckling beneath the weight as he held it aloft. He turned and caught their eye, his mouth forcing a confident grimace._

 _“Buzz!” Jessie cried._

 _“I’ll be fine. Go on without me, comrades!”_

 _There was no time to argue, as Porkchop’s snake-like monster spotted them out and began to slither towards them._

 _“Uh oh.” Woody and Jessie stepped rapidly backwards from the beast until, hearts sinking, their backs hit the stone wall. Woody grabbed Jessie’s hand and pulled her close, gaze flickering about the dark room as he tried to work out a plan._

 _“Woody! We’ve got to do something!” Jessie hissed. She too peered into the darkness, trying to find Buzz and biting her lip as the rocks finally fell, hidden by a huge cloud of rising dust. The space ranger was nowhere to be seen. “And we’ve gotta save Buzz!”_

 _“I know, I know!” Woody tried to think. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Porkchop veering closer to the prize. And then, seeing the uneven floor and the crumbling base of the pillar, it came to him._

 _Suddenly…_

“Bonnie! Time for dinner!”

The imaginary world dissipated. Bonnie sighed, but dropped her toys where they were without a second thought and ran out into the hallway. As soon as the door was closed, the toys stood up and brushed themselves down, life flooding back into their plastic features.

“That was intense!” Jessie let out a low whistle. “Here, Bullseye.” She petted the horse, laughing as it shied away from the wayward coil of tinsel that had just been an impromptu cave-dwelling monster. “You did great!” she told him. “And don’t you worry about that old thing.” Jessie poked the glittering decoration with her boot.

“Yeah. I wonder how you’re gonna get out of that one.” Hamm climbed down from his hover car, which was in actuality an old Barbie car with stickers plastered on the sides which had somehow lost all of its wheels, and crossed the sitting room rug towards them, edging through the elaborate labyrinth of cardboard boxes which made up the cave-slash-temple they had just been exploring in Bonnie’s latest game.

There was a muffled grunt, and Buzz’s hand emerged from a pile of cushions which had almost been buried beneath. The Potato Heads heaved him out from the pile and the three collapsed in a heap. Buzz coughed lightly and did a quick maintenance check, satisfied that all of his accessories were in order.

“That’s what happens when Bonnie watches Indiana Jones.”

“Yeah…” Woody trailed off and sighed as he looked around the sitting room. He observed the clock on the wall and clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “All right, great work everyone! I say we’ve got about twenty minutes. Don’t stray too far, okay?”

There was a collective jumble of affirmatives in reply and the toys moved to stretch their legs and talk amongst themselves. Woody nimbly scaled the armchair in the corner and took a running leap, swung across the curtain to land on the windowsill.

He sat, legs swinging, and stared out at the room, which was half decorated in festive décor. A tree stood in one corner covered liberally in fake snow and the angel perched precariously on top waved to him, her rosy painted cheeks darkening a little as she did so. A battered cardboard box, dusty from the attic, spilled more tinsel out in sparkling streams across the rug, and lights glinted dully in a tangle of knotted green wire. It was that time of year again, and Bonnie had brought her toys downstairs to oversee the festive preparations, but Woody wondered vaguely if they weren’t just getting in the way.

Then with a sudden start, the thought struck him that he had almost forgotten what Andy’s house had looked like at Christmas. His brow creased as he tried to pull together loose strands of memories. The tree had stood in the opposite corner to Bonnie’s, and Andy and Molly had tacked all of their cards onto the wall instead of propping them on the mantel.

The Christmas when Andy was fourteen was the one Woody remembered most, as it was the last before they had all spent years in the darkness of the toy chest. He remembered his former owner’s desktop computer unearthed from a layer of shiny wrapping paper, marking the year when his toys didn’t hold his attention any more…

Woody blinked himself from his reverie, then frowned as he saw the Peas-in-a-Pod darted through a pile of unsorted decorations, unearthing an aerosol can adorned with snowflakes.

“Watch it, you guys!” Woody called down to them. “That fake snow is a choking hazard!” He sighed with his head in his hands as they bounded away, muttering “pre-school toys,” under his breath.

Dolly, swinging from a lower branch of the tree, watched the scene thoughtfully. She leaned close to Buzz and asked in a low whisper, “Does he usually get this high strung around this time of year?”

Buzz laughed. “You get used to it,” he reassured her.

Her gaze, however, remained fixed on the cowboy. In the few months since arriving in Bonnie’s room he had seemed cheerful enough, but she had noticed that he became pensive and absent when he thought no one was looking, especially in the last week or so. She wondered what was playing on his mind.

“You think I should talk to him?”

Of course, Buzz would have noticed it too. Dolly was glad, and nodded in reply to his question. “I think that might be a good idea.”

The space ranger saluted her and strode briskly in the direction of the windowsill.

Woody was still staring absently at the floor of the front room when Buzz’s firm hand clamped down on his shoulder. Woody leaped up in alarm, relaxing immediately as he saw his friend’s face.

“You okay Sheriff?”

The cowboy blinked, tipped back his hat to look Buzz in the eye, and forced a laugh. “Yeah, yeah. You know, just got a lot to think about. Need to make preparations for the new toys and all.”

Buzz raised an eyebrow and pulled a face; the sceptical look which Woody knew meant he wasn’t going to get away so easily. Sighing, he patted the section of window ledge beside him, and Buzz accepted the invitation to take a seat. For a long moment, they sat in silence.

“So,” Buzz said finally. “What’s eating you?”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“It’s our first Christmas without Andy, right?”

Woody sighed. Buzz did tend to do that, guessing just what was on his mind. The space ranger took this to mean he’d guessed correctly, and his hand once again sought Woody’s shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.

“Don’t worry, Sheriff. It’ll only get easier.” He paused, wondering how best to pull Woody out his slump, before deciding to just simply take his mind off things. “I think what we really have to be worried about is all these cool new toys Bonnie’s going to get.”

“You think we should be worried….?”

Buzz nodded solemnly. “I do. We’re going to have our hands full. For one thing, they’re going to need a crash course in Shakespeare before Mr Pricklepants gets a hold of them.”

Woody burst into laughter. Mission accomplished.

The toys collapsed, lifeless, as the door opened and Bonnie’s mother stepped in, edging her way through the clutter to retrieve something from a cupboard. Woody watched her, motionless, and felt an odd tightening in his chest at the sudden vision of Bonnie, older, marking their future once again as uncertain.

He’d been luckier than most. Three owners, three long playtimes where birthdays and holidays and seasons all blurred into one – Andy’s father, whom he could barely remember; Andy, who he felt himself forgetting a little more the tighter he tried to hold on, like sand slipping through his fingers; and Bonnie, filling the present with wild and elaborate adventures. He could only be so lucky so many times…

Bonnie’s mom left and the room came back to life, Woody and Buzz continuing their conversation as if nothing had happened.

“I think it’s exciting,” Buzz was saying. Why, I remember being a new toy myself” – both Buzz and Woody grinned at the memory of when they first met, funny when coloured with hindsight – “taking centre stage over the old models.”

He was teasing, but Woody still kicked him lightly and protested “Bonnie wouldn’t do that! She made a promise to Andy, remember?”

“You’re right. You know, those two are a lot alike.”

“Bonnie and Andy?”

Buzz nodded. “They both know a special toy when they see one. And they look after them well. Limitless imagination… There are hundreds more adventures left in us yet, cowboy.”

He spoke these final words with such conviction that Woody found himself nodding along in agreement; the tight feeling in his chest faded as the future suddenly seemed, once more, very far away. He smiled, eyes still fixed on his boots, and didn’t notice Buzz leave his side as Jessie hauled him to his feet.

“Thanks Buzz. Uh… Buzz?”

He looked up, just in time to see the cowgirl pull the space ranger into a kiss beneath a nearby sprig of mistletoe. His surprise at the sudden display of affection made his wings pop out, to which Jessie roared with laughter.

Dolly nodded assuredly to herself. She watched as Woody broke into a genuine smile and set his sights instead on the window where, outside, a fresh wave of snow had just begun to fall.


End file.
